Love Letter, Love letter
by Plantress
Summary: When Asahi agrees to share his snacks one night during training camp, he has no idea that Nishinoya will find something very interesting in his bag... (AKA, the fic where everyone teases Asahi and he nearly dies several times from embarrassment.) (Mentions Asahi/OC)


A/n: So this was an idea I had for a long time. It does mention an OC of mine but she's not actually in the fic itself. Mostly it's just the volley dorks teasing each other.

o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Ahhhh, I'm so tiiiired," Nishinoya groaned as he threw himself face down on his futon. "We can't lose as much tomorrow! I'm getting tired of doing so many flying falls."

"At least we're learning something," Sugawara said placatingly. Although considering he was laying his back on his own futon, it didn't sound as convincing as it should have.

"I'm sure we'll do better tomorrow," Asahi chimed in, trying a smile as he sat on his futon trying to make sure his hair was dry. He did think having longer hair made it look cool, but on the negative side it made it harder to care for them most of the other guys hair.

"We will," Daichi said firmly, "Although we still have to figure out…" Whatever their Captain had been going to say was cut short by the hammer of footsteps running down the hall, and then the door to the classroom they were using as a dorm during training camp was yanked open. Hinata stumbled inside, and nearly fell over when Kageyama cannoned into him from behind. Asahi yelped, he heard Daichi yell something, and Tanaka, who was nearest the door, dove forward to help.

If it had been anyone else other than Hinata, Asahi knew that someone would really have gotten hurt. Instead, because it was Hinata after all, he just jumped forward, hopped a couple more times to settle his moment before triumphantly throwing both arms up into the air.

"First!" he declared, turning to smirk back at Kageyama, who just glared back at him..

"That's only because you cheated, dumbass!" the setter roared, "You took off without warning! You can't say it's a race if…"

"What the hell were you two doing?" Daichi's voice cut across Kageyama's rant, shocking him into silence. "Please don't tell me you raced down the hall _all the way from the bath._ " He hadn't raised his voice at all. If anything it had somehow dropped in volume, but there was just so much menace locked inside it that everyone in the room seemed to freeze, except for Sugawara who was apparently immune.

"Umm…" Hinata was standing stiff, arms locked to his side as he stared straight ahead, trembling slightly and looking unusually pale.

Asahi couldn't blame him at all. He also couldn't help wincing in sympathy when Daichi launched into a full, blistering lecture, about how they were guests here and you didn't run in the halls at Karasuno so why did you think it was okay here, and do-you-want-them-to-think-we-were-raised-in-a-barn…

At some point during it, Tsukishima and Yamaguchi came back from their own bath. Both of them stopped in the doorway for a moment, but then Tsukishima just pushed Kageyama forward a little, and walked inside. He threw a smirk in their general direction as he walked into the room, with Yamaguchi sulking in quickly from behind him.

When Daichi finally released them, after making them promise to never do it again, Hinata staggered over to his futon and sat down heavily on it. "Captain is so scary," he whispered softly to himself.

Unfortunately Kageyama had heard him. "And it was all your…" the setter started to say loudly, but then Daichi turned and just _looked_ at them, with the sort of you-had-better-behave glare that meant real trouble if you didn't comply. Kageyama took one look at it, and then quietly went to look looking for something in his bag.

Asahi heaved a sigh of relief, along with most of the room. For a few second there was peace then Hinata dove for his bag. "I'm hungry," he announced to no one.

"You just ate dinner," Tanaka said in disbelief. "How can you be hungry again?"

"Being lectured makes me hungry," the first-year insisted as he pulled a crinkling bag out of his luggage. "It's hard work! So I'll just have a snack."

NIshinoya, who had been laying there suspiciously quietly until that moment, suddenly sprang up. "Share with me Shoyou!" the Libro was suddenly over at Hinata's futon like a shot, staring at him eagerly.

"It's mine, Noya-san!" Hinata said, pulling the snack bag away from the older boy. "I've been waiting too…" suddenly he trailed off, looked at the bag in his hand, then turned it upside down. A few small crumbs fell out, and drifted down sadly onto the futon. Both Nishinoya and Hinata stared at it.

"Ah, it's gone," the libro sighed, settling back.

Hinata however stared at the bag in disbelief. "I ate it already?" he said looking completely shocked by it.

"How could you not remember that?" Kageyama snapped at the smaller boy. "You shouldn't be eating stuff like that anyway. It's bad for you."

Hinata would normally have yelled something back at that but this time he just gave a half-hearted angry glare. He looked so devastated that Asahi couldn't help feeling sorry for him.

"Hey, Hinata?" He called out. "I have a few snacks left in my bag, you can have them if you want."

Hinata's head jerked up, eyes wide. "Really, Asahi-san?" he said his voice almost disbelieving. "You'll just let me have them?" Noya turned to stare at him as well, looking overly eager.

"Sure," Asahi smiled encouragingly at him, "I packed way too many anyway. There's no way I'll be able to eat them all myself."

"You're the best Asahi-san!" Both of his underclassmen shouted at once, and he couldn't help feeling a fuzzy happy feeling about it.

"Just let me…" he started to say.

"I'll get it!" Noya dove at the bags before anyone could stop him.

"Don't mess with other people's bags!" Daichi said as Asahi watched their libro began to dig into _his_ bag. There wasn't any heat in the command though and Noya ignored it. At least for a couple seconds. Then he completely froze.

Everyone noticed when he did. It was Nishinoya after all. He was always moving or doing something when he wasn't sleeping. (Even sleeping didn't mean he really _stopped_ moving, but they didn't mention that).

"Asah-sani," Nishinoya's voice was suddenly serious, and completely flat.

"Y...yes?" Asahi manage to stammer out wondering what he could have possibly done.

"Why do you have something like this?"

The question was completely unexpected, and Asahi stared at him speechless as he tried to remember what he had brought that could have brought _Nishinoya_ of all people to a standstill. "Like what?" he asked at last.

Then he noticed Suga standing next to him face red. "Asahi!" his voice was a loud whispered. "Please tell me you didn't bring something like _that_ with you!"

"Something like what?" he felt his voice rising a little and he flushed a little himself as he realized what Suga was getting at. "I wouldn't bring something dirty like…!" He turned to Nishinoya, still red faced. "What are you talking about? I didn't bring anything that weird!"

"Asahi-san," Nishinoya said, still sounding scarily grave and serious, "you brought this!" He said and flourished….an envelope. A simple, slightly creased, white one with the words 'Azumane Asahi' written clean and clear on the outside. If it hadn't been for the last, Asahi would have been completely confused, since as far as he could remember _there was nothing like that in his bag._

There was a moment of silence before Tanaka broke out laughing.

"A letter?" Sugawara said over their wing-spiker's gaufs. "Why did you bring a letter with you?"

"Ah!" Tanaka suddenly gave a shout that made everyone jump. "Did you get recruited or something? Is that a recruiting letter?"

"You got a recruiting letter?" Daichi, who had become absorbed in the clipboard in his hands after assuring himself the first years weren't going to kill themselves, must have only heard the last few words of Tanaka's accusation. "Why the hell didn't you mention that you'd been…!"

"I'm not! I haven't been!" Asahi said loudly, his voice rising slightly. Daichi's voice had sounded somewhere between 'shocked' and 'betrayed' which was not something he had ever wanted to hear from his friend. "I don't know what that letter is, I've never seen it before!" Then he turned to Tanaka eyes pleading. "And please stop saying such weird things!"

"Sorry, sorry," Tanaka said, not really sounding that sorry at all, but still staring at the letter Nishinoya had. Which, considering Nishinoya was still standing there holding it with the serious faced solemnity of a judge only made things worse. "Still, what's the matter, Noya-san? It's just a letter…"

"It's not just a letter," the libro said with that same deadpan seriousness. With an overly dramatic flourish he flipped them envelope over. "It's this!"

"And what is this, exactly?" Daichi said, shifting forward so he could see what the rest of them were staring at.

Even Asahi wasn't quite sure what Noya was trying to show them at first. It was just the back of the envelope, the heart-shaped sticker that was supposed to be holding the back flaps closed half-peeled off because of the abuse it had suffered in his bag. Still, there was something about that familiar shape that kept nagging at him, and he found himself scowling the piece of paper.

"I...still don't know what that is…" he said slowly.

Suddenly, off to the side, he noticed Daichi suddenly go red, something that he had never seen happen to his Captain before. It was actually kind of scary. "Nishinoya," Daichi said, still trying for his Captain voice despite the blush on his cheeks. "That isn't…"

"Yes," Noya said and brandished the things. "Why didn't you tell me you got a love letter Asahi-san?" Asahi couldn't tell if he was in awe or if he was completely hurt by this.

"Eh?"Still it was a bit much for the ace to process for a moment. Then everything, the heat-shape, Noya's unusual behavior, _why everyone was staring at him_ all came crashing in on him at once. Suddenly it felt like his face was on fire and the confused noise he made was probably heard back in their home town. He pushed away from Nishinoya, scrambling back a little. "L..l..lo..loveletter?" It felt like he couldn't even get the word out, knew his voice was several octaves higher than he thought it possible to be, and he could just _tell_ he was bright red. Love letter? Him? That wasn't…. people like him didn't _get_ love letters. "I...that's not mine!" he said talking fast. "I've never gotten a love letter from anyone. I think that's something that you would remember!" How had it ended up in his bag? You think he would have _seen_ that. Maybe he wasn't the most organized packer, but he wasn't that bad! Or at least he hadn't thought he was, but if he had managed to miss a letter like that…!

"Ah, maybe Asahi was going to send someone else a love letter?" Tanaka said full of conviction. The mere thought made the ace go even redder in the face.

Before he could say anything, Ennoshita's dry voice rang out. "It had his name on it. I don't think he would send a love letter to himself."

"Oh, yeah…" Tanaka actually seemed to deflate a little.

"A..anyway," Asahi finally managed to force out before anyone else offered up a theory. He really didn't want anything more said about it. "We don't even know for sure it is a love letter. I mean, if it's too me…!"

"Of course it is!" Nishinoya pointed at the heart sticker. "What else could this mean? Besides, even if you are really timid, you're still the ace! Of course you someone would notice how awesome you were."

"Even if you are a goofball most of the time," Daichi added.

"But still!" Asahi protested. "I don't remember anyone giving me one!" That was what he felt was the most important part. Wasn't getting a love letter supposed to be a really huge thing? No one had even called him out! That was what was supposed to happen, wasn't it?

"Maybe someone just snuck it in your bag when you weren't looking?" Suga was leaning over Nishinoya's shoulder as he examined the love letter. He looked up and smiled at Asahi. "If you don't remember, then apparently you have a secret admirer of some kind. Congratulations."

"What, me?" The words came out haltingly. Secret admirers, love letters,...that was something that was for Suga, Daichi maybe, or one of the first years. Not something that was supposed to be connected to _him_.

"Wow, a secret admirer!" Hinata said awe shining in his eyes. "And a real love letter! That's amazing, you're awesome Asahi!"

"But I didn't do anything!"

Kageyama had been lurking in the back looking confused. "Umm," he said at last, "so if it's a secret admirer, who gave it to him?"

"If we knew that it wouldn't be a secret, idiot!" Hinata snapped back at him.

"I _know_ that dumbass!" Kageyama, "but I mean, we're in a training camp. So who gave it to him?"

Tsukishima had been off in a corner, keeping to himself and obviously completely disinterested in anything regarding love letters, so his familiar drawl made everyone look over at him in surprise."Oh my yes, that is a complete mystery. It's not like he could have left his bag unattended during the school day before we left, and someone slipped it in there. That's completely impossible!"

Kageyama had gone slightly red, and just repeated "I know that," before Daichi cut in.

"Now, now," he said soothingly, "It was a good question. Even if someone had slipped it in his bag during school, he would had to have packed without even noticing it." Daichi closed his eyes and put a thoughtful hand to his chin. "Although since it is Asahi were talking about here, I could see that happening."

Asahi wanted to protest to that, but he really couldn't think of a denial. He hadn't thought he could ever be the sort of person that would be that clueless! He didn't see how he was ever going to live this down, either with his teammates or with the poor person who was thought he was cool enough to deserve something like that. Which made him realize that if someone had given him a love letter, they probably expected some sort of answer. An answer that he had never given them.

Just as that was being to send a wave of panic through him, Suga spoke up. "It could have been someone at the training camp too," he said with a slight grin. The thought stopped everyone for a second, before all of them started talking at once.

"But we haven't been here that long…" Daich said.

"Maybe that wouldn't matter to whoever it was?"

"So it would be like love at first sight?"

"I don't think something like that exists," Ennoshita said.

Tsukishima's dry voice rang out again"Besides, even if it was someone from the training camp, they would have to sneak back in here without anyone noticing and figure out which bag was Asahi-san's? That's a little improbable, don't you think?"

"Come on Tsukishima, why must you ruin men's' dreams!?" Nishinoya pointed at him. "You don't have to be so logical about everything!"

"He's only trying to help," Asahi said soothingly hoping that he wasn't completely lying., "and he has a point. It would be pretty for someone to sneak back here without _anyone_ seeing them." He still felt like he was blushing a little even as he stammered out his next words. "Be..besides, we don't know for sure that it's a love letter. I mean just because it has a sticker on it doesn't mean…" he trailed off when he saw the look on Noya's face.

"Don't you want a love letter Asahi-san!?" he said.

"Of course I do!" Asahi protested.

Daichi cleared his throat. "We could just open it?" He started to reach towards the letter.

"No!" Asahi yelped and lunged forward, snatching the letter away from a surprised Noya. It wasn't until he was clutching it to him that he noticed the grin on Daichi's face and realized that their Captain had been messing with him. Again. "That's not funny!" He protested, but all Daichi did was chuckle.

Hinata scooted a bit closer staring at the letter with an almost awestruck look on his face. "So that's a love letter. A _real_ love letter. I've never seen one before."

"It's not that amazing, dumbass. It's just a letter! I've gotten them before!"

Suddenly there was total silence in the whole room as everyone turned to stared at the setter at once. He stared at all of them in confusion. "What?"

"Kageyamaaaaaaa…!" Tanaka threw himself on the younger boy and somehow managed to get him into a headlock. "Just because you're a lucky bastard, doesn't mean the rest of us are! Have some compassion!"

"T..Tanaka-san I can't breath!"

"T..tanaka," Asahi watched Kageyama's face start to change color. "Let him go, you don't have to be so rough!"

"Hey, hey you guys sound like you're having fun!" The cheerful voice rang from the doorway. Before anyone could respond, a whirlwind of white and black bound into the room.

"What are you doing here?" Daichi asked, with a flat expression and a warning tone that most of the team knew better than to test. "Get back to your own team. You should be resting!"

Apparently Bokuto Koutaro either hadn't learned to fear that tone yet, or didn't care. Asahi almost envied his confidence either way.

"You aren't," the Fukurodani captain pointed out cheerfully. "And anyway, I'm bored and I'm not tired! You look like you're having fun though, so here I am!"

"Bokuto-san, you aren't a child," Akaashi followed his captain into the room shaking his head. "We need to have a team meeting, remember?"

"But that's boring!" Bokuto glanced over his shoulder at his setter then turned around and grinned at everyone. "So what are you doing?"

" ." Daichi drew the word out as long as he could. "So why don't you just…"

"Bokuto-san!" Hinata spoke up excitedly, "It's Asahi-san, he found a love letter in his bag and he can't remember who gave it to him."

There was a long, drawn out sigh from Akaashi, and the setter closed his eyes as Bokuto's mouth fell open.

"Whaaaat!?" Suddenly Asahi found himself occupying the full attention of the exuberant captain, as he rushed over to him. "Really? A love letter? Even I haven't gotten one of those yet!" He was staring at the envelope with rapt attention apparently not noticing his teammate has just walked out of the room.

Asahi tightened his hold on the piece of paper and held it a bit closer to him. "Well I guess, I mean I haven't really gotten one before either…"

"So you really don't know who it's from?"

"Uh, yeah," Asahi found himself leaning a little away from Bokuto on sheer instinct. He was used to people who like to get close by this point because of Nishinoya, but Bokuto just seemed to take up so much more space than him! "It's probably someone from school, so I…"

"So it's a mystery!" Bokuto declared, and Asahi was actually scared by how excited he seemed about that.

"Yes, as much of a mystery as _what you're doing here,"_ Daichi growled, "this doesn't even have anything to do with you!"

Bokuto turned to face him, and with a completely serious face, gave a thumbs up said firmly. "Maybe I could help."

"How could you help!?"

"I was wondering what all the noise was about. What's Bokuto doing this time?" Kuroo paused for a second in the doorway before walking into the room. Asahi wondered if someone should just shut the door by now.

As it was Asahi was trying, very, very hard not to pay attention to the long rambling explanation that Bokuto was giving, which was impressive since he hadn't though the Fukurodani captain had been listening long enough to get all those details.

"Oh-ho," suddenly Kuroo looked far too interested in the letter. Asahi quickly moved it behind his back. "And no idea who gave it to you. That's...actually kind of hilarious," the Nekoma captain said. Asahi wanted to say something back...but honestly he found Kuroo nearly as intimidating as Daichi sometimes and couldn't shake the feeling that Something Terrible would happen if he tried to stop him.

"Yes, it's funny, now please leave," Daichi said, his voice sounding almost menacingly polite. "I don't see how you could actually help."

"Oh come on, don't be like that," Kuroo slung an arm around his shoulders. "Maybe we can jog his memory or something."

"Why do you even care!?"

"Because it's amusing?"

"I, um," Asahi started to stay, but when they turned to look at him the words seemed to stick in his throat and ended in a strange squeak that only made Daichi give him a look. He cleared his throat self consciously and brought the letter back around to his front where he started to fiddle with it unconsciously. "I appreciate the offer, but I'm fine really everyone should just forget about this. It's not that big a…" He saw the look Nishinoya was giving him and nearly froze, "deal." He finally managed to force the last of the words out and trailed off.

"Not that big a deal?" the libro practically exploded. "Of course it's a big deal Asahi-san! How often does something like this happen? At least to someone who isn't Kageyama or Tsukishima!" The last was said to a glance at the two first years. Tsukishima had his headphones on and was obviously ignored what was going on. Kageyama, who had managed to squirm away from Tanaka, just shrugged.

"Besides, even if it's not a big deal to you, I'm sure it's a big deal to whoever sent you that letter," Kuroo came and threw himself down next to the Karasuno ace, "think about it. They go through all the trouble of pouring their heart out to you and you don't even care who they might be. Hell, I don't know who they are and I'm starting to feel sorry for them."

Asahi found himself looking down at the letter he held, his eyes widening. He hadn't thought of it that way before, but it was true, wasn't it? You didn't give someone a letter like this casually, did you? It had probably taken a lot of courage. Or well, he had known that right away and he hadn't meant that he was going to ignore it, but he hadn't been thinking about what the person who had gone through all that trouble must be feeling right now. They were probably waiting for his answer, weren't they? Wondering what he felt, and if he would answer them. Maybe they thought he had already rejected them just because he hadn't answered back! And here had been, only thinking about how he felt about the letter. "I..I didn't mean it like that! I _do_ care" he said outloud. His voice shook slightly. "I was just…"

"The least you could do for now is figure out whoever wrote it, right?" Kuroo leaned closer to him one elbow propped on his shoulder. "If they went through all the trouble of sneaking it to you, then they probably signed the thing so you would know who they were. They're name is probably on it somewhere. It's not like you have to read the whole thing right now. Just check the name, so you know you you're dealing with here." Kuroo's voice sounded so sympathetic that Asahi found himself staring at the love letter uncertainly.  
"Maybe I should…?"

"You just want to read over his shoulder, don't you?" Daichi's voice sounded menacing and very close. Asahi looked up to find his captain standing there, glaring down at Kuroo. Kuroo just moved his arm and shrugged.

"Can' you blame me for trying?" he said innocently.

"Ah come on Sawamura, you ruined it!" Bokuto protested, as he thought of the whole thing had been a game.

"Yes I can blame you!" Daichi snapped, then abruptly Asahi found himself being glared at. "And why are you even listening to him? Just put that thing away for now!"

"I wasn't," Asahi found himself stammering but then subsided under the look on Daichi's face.

Bokuto just stretched and put his arms behind his head, "Come on, aren't you the least bit curious about things, Sawamura? I mean, it's not like you've ever gotten one before either...right?" Suddenly the Fukurodani Captain was peering a little closer. "Or _have_ you?"

Daichi went red and coughed. "That's none of your business! And that letter is Asahi's, so it's none of your business either!"

"But it's fun!"

Asahi let out a sigh as both of the other team members took their attention off him. He glanced down at the letter in his hands. It was weird how something so ordinary had turned into something like this. He could sort of get why everyone was so nosey. Maybe if it had been someone else in his shoes, he would be just as bad. It was just...uncomfortable, since this was something so personal and he couldn't even remember a single detail about…

Suddenly he froze as a memory ghosted through his mind. Afternoon sunlight filtering in through the classroom windows, someone handing him a piece of paper…. Heat rushed to his cheeks, and he was sure the sound he made was somewhere between 'urk' and a yelp. Immediately he clapped a hand over his mouth and hoped no one had heard him. How had he not remembered that until now? And why hadn't he thought anything was weird back then!?

Unfortunately it seemed like karama had once again decided that he didn't need any mercy. Everyone was looking at him when he glanced up.

"Asahi?" Suga said gently. "What is it?"

He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his head a little self consciously. "It's just….I remembered. After school, the day we left, Suzuki came up to me. She just talked for me a while then she said 'here, this is for you' and handed me an envelope." His voice grew softer and softer as he watched Nishinoya's eyes grow wider and wider with each word.

"I thought you didn't remember!" Came from several sides. He wasn't even sure who was speaking anymore.

"Because I forgot about it!" he held up his hands defensively, the envelope clutched tight in one. "Really!"

"How do you forget about something like that!?" Nishinoya was suddenly right in his face, and Asahi almost fell backwards.

"I didn't think she was going to give me a love letter!" he said frantically. "I just thought, maybe it was a good luck charm! She gave one to me last year, but she's nice and kept insisting she'd get me one this year too. So I didn't think it could be anything...else," he trailed off when he realized that Tanaka had crept up behind Nishinoya and was peering over his shoulder.

"Asahi, you got a good luck charm from a girl?" he said in a strangely calm voice. Which considering it was coming from Tanaka was actually kind of frightening.

"Y..yeah," suddenly he felt like he had done something terrible. "I just.."

"Come on Asahi!" Nishinoya interrupted before Tanaka could say anything else. "That can't be all she said! I mean, a girl wouldn't just give you a love letter, and that's all she said! Even if you're weird and didn't even notice that you got one, she had to have tried to tell you something else!"

Asahi felt more than a little shocked that even Nishinoya thought he was weird even though he knew that it was probably true. "That was all she said! Really! You came in right after that to tell me we had a meeting, and I ended up shoving the envelope into my bag. I was going to look at it after I got home, really!"

Nishinoya, though, didn't seem to be paying anymore attention to his actual words anymore. "I did?" He looked like someone had struck him over the head. "That was _my_ fault."

Asahi sat up a little. "It's not your fault," he said smiling as gently as he could. "it's not like you knew what was happening. Don't worry about it!"

"You should have read the mood better Noya-san!" Tanaka had apparently gotten over whatever shock he had been earlier. "How could your ruin something like that!"

"It's not.." Apparently his kohai were intent on ignoring everything he said, because Nishinoya just turned to him with an almost tearful look in his eyes.

"I'm so sorry Asahi-san! Forgive me!"

"F..for what!?"

Sugawara leaned over and put a hand on Nishinoya's shoulder. "You don't need to be that upset," he said soothingly, "it's not like it was that bad." Then he looked up with a smile. "So, it's Suzuki-san, hmm?" he said and straightened up, tapping his chin in thought for a moment. "That's...Suzuki Maya right? The one that sits in front of you?"

For some reason actually hearing someone else say her name started to bring home the fact that she had, apparently gone out of her way to write a letter just for him, and that everyone knew about it and he hadn't even answered her yet… He knew he was blushing, and all he could do was nod slightly at Suga's words.

"Hey, so it's Maya-chan, hmm?" Until Bokuto spoke Asahi had actually managed to forget the Fukurodani captain was there, since figuring out that Suzuki of all people apparently liked him had been taking up most of his mind. Which meant when he turned and found that Bokuto was right in his face, leaning close to him, he almost fell over. "So, is she cute?"

"Ah," he managed to stammer out, "yes?" and Suzuki was but it was embarrassing to say that out loud and he was sure that he was going to pass out, and everyone was looking at him.

"From what I remember, I think she is," Suga supplied helpfully, smiling all the while. He wasn't sure if he should be grateful that Suga was trying to help or if his friend was just trying to make things worse.

"Eh, you're lucky!" Bokuto said and leaned back, "though, you just grabbed the letter and ran off, right? You didn't actually give her an answer right? That's not good!"

"N..no, I didn't, but.." he wasn't even sure what he was going to say before Kuroo was sitting next to him again.

"But you were going to give her one," and then Kurro was leaning on his shoulder again, smirking. "So, what were you going to say?"

Never before had there been a time Asahi had wished he could either develop the ability to sink through the floor or spontaneously go invisible more. Or that he would spontaneously catch fire. Or that something else would catch fire. Or blow up. Or anything that would mean that _everyone would stop staring at him_ and he would stop feeling like he was going to die from sheer embarrassment. "Th..that," he could barely get the words out, "that's private!"

"So you're going to say no?"

"No!" The word came out on reflex. He hadn't actually _thought_ about what he was going to tell Suzuki exactly, but he couldn't imagine actually turning her _down._ Not when she really was cute, and nice, and… Then he realized that Kuroo was _smirking_ at him, and that he had said out loud, and he thought he was going to faint. He automatically covered his face with his hands and hoped the entire thing would go away. Which he knew was pointless but how was he suppose to face anyone after that.

From almost on top of them he heard Daichi's voice. "Would you stop trying to kill our ace and _leave_ already? What are you trying to accomplish here!?"

"We're trying to help," came from Bokuto, and he sounded so innocent about that Asahi wondered if he thought he honestly was helping. In his own way.

"Like he said," Kuroo said cheerfully and Asahi felt him finally remove his weight from his shoulder. "I was just trying to get him to remember who he got the love letter from. It's better than _worrying_ about it isn't it?"

Asahi didn't even need to see Daichi to see him twitch as he spoke. "Yes, because you came in here just to be helpful."

"Though, you know, even if you want to accept the letter, you didn't say anything to her when you took it. I hope she doesn't think that means you rejected her." Asahi froze, slowly looked up and just stared at Bokuto for a second. He hadn't even _thought_ about that! Normally you would same _something._ Even it if was just 'let me think about it' she had probably expected at least a few words! But he had outright ignored her. She must hate him by now.

"Th..that's not what I meant," he said slowly, holding the letter in trembling hands. "What am I supposed to say to her now?"

To his surprise Kuroo leaned forward, looking a little concerned. "Hey, it was just a possibility, okay? She's probably smart enough not to jump to conclusions like that, right?"

Asahi found himself hoping that was the case, but what if Maya really was that hurt?

Daichi had been shooting the Nekoma captain dirty glances, but just when he opened to say something, Suga stepped in.

"I'm sure she'll understand," he said soothingly, "you'll just have to explain things to her after the training camp ends."

"B..but that's still days away…"

"Hey, come on, it's only a few days…" Kuroo said encouragingly.

"...Why don't you just call her?"

Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to Kageyama. The setter was seated on his futon, and just looked confused when Nisnihyoa pointed at him.

"It's not that easy!" The libiro declared.

Kageyama just frowned. "Why?" he asked, "if Asahi-san wants to talk to her, isn't just calling her better than worrying about it?"

For some reason that was one course of action Asahi hadn't considered at all. Maybe it would better to do that, since then Maya wouldn't be worrying anymore!

On the other hand that would actually mean talking to her. Over the phone. And admitting that he had read her...read her l..love letter. Just the thought of that made him go bright red and he almost whimpered in embarrassment.

Thankfully people were focused on Kageyama that they weren't looking at him as much. Even Kuroo just kind of gave a little chuckle.

"Well, I mean you could say that's a good idea," the Nekoma captain said and made an off hand gestured, "but first off all you'd actually need her phone number. Right, Azumane?."

Asahi jumped a little at that, and glanced up a little guilty when Kuroo looked at him. Although he wasn't sure why he suddenly felt guilty since Maya-san had been the one to suggest it... That got him a disbelieving look

"Wait. Don't tell you actually…"

" were studying together for exams," he said, waving his hands around, face red, and feeling like he wanted to sink through the floor again, "she said I should have her number so we could figure out when to meet!" He wasn't even sure why he was so embarrassed about it. She was the one who had given it to _him_ after all….although thinking about the _love_ letter she had given him made things suddenly seem a bit more obvious. Why hadn't he noticed anything then? Had she been waiting for him to? He hadn't thought she had been being anything but friendly, and she really had helped! She hadn't really been flirting with him...or at least he hadn't thought she had been. What if she had been and he hadn't even noticed.

Kuroo's laugh distracted him from the spirals his throughs were going in. "Seriously? Okay, I'm starting to like this girlfriend of yours."

Asahi was starting to wonder if he really was going to explode, "but she's not….!"

Then Tanaka was there, peeking over Kuroo's shoulder with a strange, almost menacing look on his face. Even the seemingly unflappable captain seemed to jump and move away when he glanced back and aw it.

"Asahi-san," he said slowly, then suddenly lunged forward and grabbed his hand, "congratulations!" he said with tear-eyed earnesty. "I'm so happy for you!"

All Asahi could do was blink and try to process that. "Wh..what?" he managed to get out of before suddenly Noya was there, grinding.

"I'm so jealous," he said, still managing to sound happy.

"But I…" Asahi said weakly aware that no one was listening to what he was saying.

Almost as if to confirm that Noya suddenly held up something familiar. "I got your phone for you," he said cheerfully.

That got a moment of silence before there was a muffled yelp from Asahi and he recoiled as if Noya was holding a snake, instead of a piece of technology. "You want me to call her now?" his voice was a little higher than normal.

"Why not?" Bokuto said cheerfully, pushing forward.

"It beats waiting and dreading it," Kuroo said helpfully. "I mean, at least you already know she likes you, right? It can't be that bad."

Asahi wanted to say that, yes, yes it could be that bad. Calling her in front of _everyone_ with them _watching_ him. He didn't even know what he was going to say! What if she had changed her mind? What if she had made a mistake giving him the letter? "B..but it's late, and it would be weird to just call her out of nowhere." He was flailing his hands hoping that they would just leave him alone right now.

"Come one it's just…" Noya started to say, but Bokuto darted forward and snatched the phone out of his hand.

"Let me see that for a sec?"

"Hey!" Asahi said half a second after the Fukurodani captain started messing with his phone. "That's mine!" He tried to grab the phone but Bokuto darted out of reach before he could get to it.

"Suzuki-san, right?" Bokuto said, and Asahi suddenly realized that he was going through his contacts. "Annnd...there! Aww, you don't have a picture of her?"

"Why would I?" Asahi made another grab at the phone, but Bokuto lept up.

"Stop messing around, Bokuto!" that was Daichi and came from somewhere behind him. Bokuto once again choose the suicidal option of _completely ignoring him._

Asahi lept up to chase after him, but Bokuto danced back and just gave him a look as if he had just figured something out. "Why don't you text her if don't want to talk to her."

That actually caused him to pause for a moment. Texting would be easier since he wouldn't be able to mess up, but it still didn't tell him _what_ he was supposed to tell her. And how was he supposed to explain why he was texting her out of the blue? Saying that he hadn't realized she had given him a love letter of all things was bad no matter what form it came in!

"Hey, that's a good idea," Kuroo said from his position on the floor. "Just send her a text apologizing for being an idiot. Then you can talk to her when you get back. At least then she'll know that you haven't been ignoring her or anything."  
Asahi wavered for a moment, "That's true…." he said uncertainly.

In the moment he looked away, Bokuto started to fiddle with the phone again, "Here, I'll do it for you!" he said cheerfully tapping away before anyone could move to stop him. "I'm...sorry...for…"

"I didn't mean for you to actually send that!"

"That's mine..!" Asahi chased after Bokuto, but he just danced backwards, as if this was just another game.

"Come on Bokuto, that's enough," Kuroo stood up too. "You're pushing it a bit far."

Bokuto looked like was going to reply to that, but he took another step back and bumped into Daichi. None of them had even seen him move behind Bokuto. This time even the irrepressible froze when he saw the look on the Karasuno captain's face.

"You two…" he said in the voice of doom.

Fortunately that was when someone slammed a hand into the doorframe. "I don't know what you're doin' and I don't care," Coach Ukai growled. "But you all should know this isn't a field trip! Get back to your own rooms and all of you get some sleep!"

The extra members in the room all managed to look guilty. "Right," Kuroo said serious for once, walked over and grabbed Bokuto's arm. "Come on, enough fun for one night."

As the other captain tugged him away, Bokuto dropped Asahi's phone back into his hands, and gave a wink. Then he was gone.

Asahi quickly check his phone and gave a defeated groan. Whatever message Bokuto had been trying to 'help' by typing in had been sent. He wasn't even sure he wanted to check what the message _said._ Poor Suzuki was going to have to deal with it. Maybe he should send another message telling her to ignore it, although he wasn't sure that would actually help. maybe it would only make her think he was flakey…

A slap on his shoulder made him jump, he glanced back, and then flinched when he realized it was Daichi.

"Don't worry about it so much," he sighed, with an exasperated look on his face. It wasn't the lecture that Asahi had been expecting, so he relaxed a little. But only a little. Because it was Daichi. "Look, how long have you and Suzuki been in the same class?"

"Since first year," he said without thinking about.

"Then she probably already knows what a goofball you really are," Daichi continued, "and she still decided that she liked you. Just explain what happened, and I'm sure she'll understand."

"You're sure?" He glanced back at his Captain. Granted, this wasn't really making his anxiety go away but he did appreciate the words.

"Yeah," Daichi said with such confidence that Asahi actually started to believe him a little. "And if she doesn't bother to listen to you, then she isn't worth worrying about in the first place."

Asahi tried to smile at that. "Thanks," he said outloud. "That means a lot." There must have been something in his voice because Daichi scowled at him again.

"Now what's wrong?" he demanded.

Asahi was more than aware that his voice shook a little when he answered. "...You being nice kind of makes me more nervous."

There was a beat where Daichi just gave a smile as his eyebrow twitched before the inevitable explosion went off. "What does that mean!?"

"I thought I said get to bed!" Ukai poked his head back into the room. "You're gonna collapse in practice tomorrow if you don't. Hurry it up!"

A ragged chorus of 'yes sir' rang out through the room, as Asahi took the opportunity to escape to his futon.

A few minutes later, the lights were out and everyone was more or less settled down. Asahi held his shaking thumb over the send button on his phone for several seconds then closed his eyes and just pressed it before he could change his mind. Then he slowly opened his eyes, and let out a breath as he stared at the 'message sent' display. There. He hoped the 'Sorry ignore that last message. I'm really sorry.' would get through.

Then he put his phone away and tried to force himself to relax enough so he could sleep. Coach was right. He wasn't going to last long in the practices tomorrow if he didn't get some sleep. Even if it was hard to shut out what had happened today or the enormity of the knowledge that there was someone who apparently liked someone like _him._

For some reason he kept picturing how shy she had looked when actually giving him the letter. It made him feel guilty for not noticing, but at the same time there was a part of him that felt a bubbling happiness over him. She might actually like him. That was good.

Eventually he managed to fall asleep with that thought in his head.


End file.
